"wheel" is "Rad", "bicicle" or "bike" is "Fahrrad", as in the German and Russian sentence

I know, but "to reinvent the wheel" is a proverbial phrase that is fully equivalent to the Russian "изобретать велосипед".
It is a non literal translation. Proverbs and idioms are often translated in this way, aren't they?
By the way, they are both mine, and Alexander have just translated them :)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reinventing_the_wheel
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proverbial_phrase

Yes, but "велосипед" means "bike" and not "wheel". So you should write "bike" in your English sentence.

> Yes, but "велосипед" means "bike" and not
> "wheel". So you should write
> "bike" in your English sentence.
It’s an idiom.

Idioms are not translated word-by-word. There is no real bicycle in this sentence: it means «You should not do what is already done».

(Etymologically, the Russian idiom is most likely a loan translation from German; but it doesn’t matter.)

Sorry, but I can not agree.

http://tatoeba.org/rus/sentences/show/412388
Pli valoras tuj ovo ol poste bovo?

http://tatoeba.org/rus/sentences/show/700942
I bought a pig in a poke yesterday?

http://tatoeba.org/rus/sentences/show/441862
Lucky at cards, unlucky in love?

And so on...

> Sorry, but I can not agree.
The examples you listed work only because the idioms coincede in some languages. But in the case of reinventhing the wheel, they don't.

Lassen Sie ihre Waffen fallen, Manfredo! :))

@Demetrius
> Sorry, but I can not agree.
Я поняла, в чем дело! Это было адресовано Manfredo.
Пока я писала, вашего сообщения еще не было, и я думала, что сражаюсь с Manfredo в одиночку :)

OK, marafon, ich bin ein friedlicher Mensch. :-)
Aber interessant ist, dass man im Deutschen das Wort "Rad" sowohl allgemein als auch als Abkürzung für "Fahrrad" gebraucht.

Ich bin auch sehr friedlich, Manfredo! :)
So kann mann sagen: "Du musst das Rad kein zweites Mal erfinden"?

Richtig! So kann man sagen.

Na ja! "Kann man". Heute schreibe ich überall die unnötigen Buchstaben!

Ich habe den Satz "Du musst das Rad nicht neu erfinden." hinzugefügt.